The San Francisco 49ers beat the Washington Commanders 23-17 in Week 6, improving to 6-0 in a game where they nearly blew a 20-point lead in the second half.
The injury bug continued for the 49ers, with Mike Evans missing the second half due to Achilles tendonitis, which coincided with San Francisco putting up just three points over the final 30 minutes, while going three-and-out on their final three drives.
There was still plenty to like from the win, and a couple of trends that are playing out for
the 49ers on their hot start to the season. Here are five final observations from the Niners win on Monday night.
Niners run game is coming along
A lot of talk came on the passing game, especially given the efficiency that Brock Purdy had when Mike Evans was on the first in the first half. San Francisco ended up scoring three touchdowns on five drives in the first half, holding a 20-3 lead at halftime.
But it wasn’t just their pass game that connected. The 49ers run game is really starting to come along over the last two weeks. San Francisco had the highest EPA per rush by a wide margin in the NFL in Week 6. Their rushing success rate was 66.7 percent, easily the best by over 16 percent to the next-best team as well.
With the injuries in the pass game, the 49ers gave Christian McCaffrey 25 total touches (16 rushes, nine targets), as he went for 117 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns. While his 4.0 yards per carry number may not pop off on the box score, from an efficiency perspective, San Francisco had a great day on the ground.
What’s even more impressive is that it came against the No. 8 defense in EPA allowed per rush coming into Monday.
A week ago, McCaffrey ran for 68 yards on 11 carries against Seattle’s elite defense. Now, they had another pretty good game on the ground, which is coming at a good time with the Niners issues at wide receiver.
OL might be 2nd MVP
Brock Purdy is a serious MVP contender for a good reason; he’s been playing at an extremely high level all year long with his decision making, and the quarterback had another good game on Monday.
But the offensive line, which has caught a lot of flak over the years, has really done its part this season. The 49ers have been quite good in pass protection this season, as Purdy wasn’t sacked over the first four weeks of the year. He’s taken five the last two weeks, but I would argue the two on Monday weren’t against the offensive line.
In addition, we’re finally seeing the run game come to fruition the last two weeks, and the blocking there has started to come together. Trent Williams is playing at high level. Dominick Puni has had a good season outside of a rough Week 6. The group as a whole is clicking, and you’re seeing the continuity and experience be key factors as well.
Mike Evans certainly has a case to be the offense’s other MVP, but the offensive line has done its part this season.
Raheem Morris’s pressure plan is working
Monday’s game was one where I had to tip my cap to Jayden Daniels. He had a great game, throwing for 300 yards while completing over 72 percent of his passes. It was not a good day for the 49ers cornerbacks overall, but Daniels has been a dangerous quarterback whenever healthy, and he was that on Monday as well.
That’s why it’s impressive the 49ers were able to hold Washington to just three points at halftime and 17 for the whole game. Normally, when a quarterback is clicking like Daniels was on Monday, the pass rush isn’t consistently getting there. But the 49ers pressured Daniels on 21 of his 47 dropbacks on Monday and got five sacks, despite still being without Nick Bosa.
It was a really good day for the young Niners defensive linemen. As I mentioned in the takeaways, Keion White, Romello Height, Gracen Halton, Sebastian Valdez, and Mykel Williams made plays, while Osa Odighizuwa added five pressures and a sack as well.
Even on a rough day for his secondary and Jayden Daniels consistently getting the ball out quickly, Raheem Morris deliered with another good pressure plan against a fairly solid offensive line.
Pass rate over expected
Interestingly, despite the 49ers lead and injuries at wide receiver, Brock Purdy had a 14 percent pass rate over expected (69.6 percent vs. 55.5 percent) in “non-garbage time” situations.
With how the 49ers were running the ball from a success rate and efficiency standpoint, I thought that number would end up being lower, but the 49ers were throwing the ball at a very efficient rate in the first half.
On the season, that number has just been 3.5 percent over expected. So, it was interesting to see such a spike for Week 6. In those situations, the 49ers threw the ball 62.5 percent of the time on 1st down (5 of 8). We’ll see what trends change in Week 7 if the 49ers are to be without Mike Evans, but that was one number that caught my eye when looking back at Monday’s game.
WR room shaking out
To me, a win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7 feels like a luxury right now.
San Francisco will be facing an elite rush defense, and I’m not expecting Mike Evans in right now after sitting out the second half on Monday. I haven’t been an advocate for the 49ers trading for a receiver, and I think that stance still stands heading closer to the trade deadline.
While Evans will have to battle through the Achilles tendonitis for the rest of the season, he should be a go following the bye week. The 49ers are getting Christian Kirk back as well soon, and Deebo Samuel and Demarcus Robinson could be other candidates to return after the bye. There’s also De’Zhaun Stribling, who could return around Week 12 or so according to his timeline.
So, the 49ers are certainly banged up right now at wide receiver, but I don’t know that they’ll make a move for one considering the depth they have returning from injury.
Now, we did learn a bit about the 49ers receiver room this week. Jordan Watkins got the start, and Jacob Cowing’s role continued to diminish (he had a bad return decision as well). Watkins played 47 snaps, while Cooks played 32 snaps. Cowing could factor in again here in Week 8 with the banged-up room, but he might be the one inactive when all the injured wideouts return.
